1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a method and system for providing cross-carrier tracking and accountability techniques. More particularly the invention relates to marking passage of a mailpiece from the control of one carrier of the mailpiece to the control of another carrier. The technique to record the passage of control may be accomplished through methods such as bar code scanning or optical character recognition techniques. The invention allows mailpieces to be time-tracked, and provides financial incentives to postal administrations to meet target delivery dates.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently, if an express parcel is shipped from the United States to a foreign country via the USPS, the USPS loses control of the parcel once it leaves U.S. soil. This makes it difficult for the USPS to guarantee delivery within a specified time frame. The same problem exists in any situation in which delivery of a mailpiece is started by one entity and completed by a second entity. The first entity must have the cooperation of the second entity in order to track, manage, and monitor delivery performance by the second entity. In this same manner, foreign countries also face similar constraints with cross-border shipping into the United States. Foreign entities thus also seek methods by which to monitor and improve their express mail deliveries into the US.
Companies such as UPS and Federal Express do not operate with this disadvantage since they control the parcel door-to-door. As a result, the market sometimes perceives a benefit to transmitting overseas express parcels through carriers other than the USPS.
This invention is intended to level the playing field by introducing cross-border tracking and accountability techniques. The invention allows all parcels to be time-tracked, and provides financial incentives to national postal administrations to meet target delivery dates.
For example the USPS currently pays foreign postal administrations for delivering Express Mail without taking into account whether or not the product met service performance standards. In addition foreign postal administrations reimburse the USPS for delivering Express Mail without regard for service performance.
Accordingly, there is a need for a system and method that allows a mail service to improve the delivery of express mail for international destinations. It is desirable to provide a method that obtains these advantages without requiring investment in expensive or costly machinery.